Leg 169 EKVG - Vágar (Faroe - Denmark) to EGPM - Scatsta (Scotland)
EKVG - Airport Info
;)
ICAO code: EKVG
Airport name: Vagar Airport
Location: Vagar
Useful information
Airport elevation: '
Time zone: UTC-
Lighted runways : Yes
Maximum runway length: '
Runway surface : Asphalt
Instrument approach (ILS, LOC, LDA, and SDF):
Vagar Info
Vágar is the first port of call for most foreigners travelling to the Faroe Islands, as it is home to the islands’ only airport, Vágar Airport. An airfield was built there during World War II by the British, who friendly occupied the Faroe Islands. After the war it lay unused for about 20 years, but was then put back into service and expanded/modernised as required. It handles about 170,000 passengers a year. Such large numbers by Faroese standards put a considerable strain on transport facilities, with the result that a road tunnel (Vágatunnilin) measuring 5 km in length and running under the sea now connects Vágar with the two largest islands in the Faroes and therefore the capital Tórshavn.
The tourist attractions on Vágar are excellent and perhaps the best in the Faroe Islands. The country’s two largest lakes - Leitisvatn and Fjallavatn - are to be found there, and the tourist association organises excursions throughout the summer.
Vágar has three large villages and three small ones, but a hundred years ago there were seven.
The largest is Miðvágur, which has 1025 inhabitants (2003). It is in the middle of the island and so has naturally become a centre, with a police station, doctor’s surgery, co-op and vicarage. It is also a historic village and was home to Beinta Broberg, a clergyman’s wife who was dubbed “Wicked Beinta”. Jørgen Frantz Jacobsen told the story of her life in his famous novel “Barbara” by Jørgen-Frantz Jacobsen, which was filmed in 1997 by Niels Malmros. The farmhouse, Kálvalíð to the north is the oldest house in the village and possibly in the Faroe Islands too. It is now the village museum.
To the east of Miðvágur lies Sandavágur, which has a population of 716 (2003). It too is a historic village. It was home to the law speaker of the Faroe Islands until 1816, when the office was abolished and the islands became a Danish administrative district. The clergyman V. U. Hammershaimb, who was born in Sandavágur in 1819 and became the father of the Faroese written language, was the son of the last law speaker. A runic stone dating back to around 1200 was found there in 1917 and can now be seen in Sandavágur church.
The third large village is Sørvágur, which is on the western side of the island, near the airport, and has 980 inhabitants (2003). During World War II, when the airfield was being built in 1942-1944, 5,000 British soldiers lived in Sørvágur, but now few traces remain of their camp to the south of the village. Tindhólmur, Gáshólmur and the two “drangar” (freestanding cliffs) belong to the village. The view out to them is among the most beautiful in the Faroe Islands.
Vágar has two other old villages: Bøur, which lies 4 km west of Sørvágur and has 69 inhabitants (2003), and Gásadalur, which lies further west on Mykines Fjord and has just 16 inhabitants (2003). Many people have moved away from this village, but it now has a road link in the form of a tunnel through the mountain and it is hoped that the village will start to grow again.
A new village, Vatnsoyrar, which has 41 inhabitants, appeared on Vágar in 1921. It was founded by three men, each of whom was given a plot of land to farm and set up home there with his family. The village is in the upland pastures belonging to Miðvágur and so forms part of Miðvágur District. When the British occupied the Faroe Islands and built the airfield on Vágar, Vatnsoyrar was their headquarters. The local population was evacuated, but was able to return home when the war ended.
At the northernmost point of the island, in the upland pastures belonging to Sandavágur, lay the village of Slættanes, which was founded in 1835. It grew for a time and at its largest was home to around 70 people. It also had a school, which can be seen on the left on the stamp. The last residents left in 1964.
Another new village, Víkar, was founded in the upland pastures belonging to Gásadalur on the north side of the island in 1833. The area was good for farming, but the settlement was very isolated, and getting to the next village was a difficult business. The last few inhabitants moved away in 1910.
The Kvígandalsá river's beautiful little bridge forms part of a road that was built to facilitate peat cutting.
If you carry on along this road and then follow the path through the valley, you arrive at Fjallavatn lake. There are no motorways or other modern conveniences, but you can enjoy the tranquillity, which is accentuated by the murmuring of the river, the lapping of the waves and the twittering of the birds.
EGPM - Airport Info
ICAO code: EGPM
Airport name: Scatsta Airport
Location: Scatsta
Useful information
Airport elevation: '
Time zone: UTC-
Lighted runways : Yes
Maximum runway length: '
Runway surface : Asphalt
Instrument approach (ILS, LOC, LDA, and SDF):
Shetland Info
Shetland lies across the 60th line of Latitude North, with the capital Lerwick almost sitting in the centre of a triangle formed by connecting Aberdeen (Scotland), with Bergen (Norway) and Torshavn (Faroe Islands). Indeed, the Shetland Islands are as far North as Helsinki (Finland), Hudson Bay (Canada), Alaska (USA) and Leningrad (Russia). However, the climate in Shetland is not as extreme as in any of these other places, thanks to the moderating effect of the very northern end of the Gulf Stream.
The islands themselves belong to Scotland, and are part of the UK, so UK traffic regulations apply, Scottish Law applies, Shetland is part of the UK Postal network, and everyone speaks standard English (although the old Shetland dialect is still heard occasionally).
Shetland lies at the virtual crossroads of the North Sea, and has been a trading area for centuries, with strong links from the past still evident in the landscape and architecture.
Shetland is markedly different from the perception of many. There are spectacular cliffs, deep sea inlets (voes), rugged, rock strewn hillsides, miles of peat bogs, underground caverns open to the sea, beautiful arable land in some places, heather covered slopes in others, quiet little streams and burns, wild, exposed beaches, and contrasts in the weather and light that are forever changing.
Shetland's remoteness is one of its appeals to many visitors (and many residents), but that remoteness has by its very nature engendered a self-reliance that provides for all the usual needs of a community of over 20,000 people. The impact of the oil industry over the last 30 years (Sullom Voe - a large oil terminal facility - is hidden out of sight towards the north of the Shetland mainland) has meant that there are extensive engineering, electrical and fabrication facilities, far in excess of what might have been the case otherwise.
The oil revenue has enabled Shetland Islands Council to provide excellent roads throughout the islands, and a very effective network of bridges and ferries to allow easy access between them all.
Certainly all of the modern day-to-day facilities are readily available, with garages, food shops, taxi firms, clothing shops, hotels, B&B's, IT facilities, excellent health care, and everything else you might need.
Because Shetland also has a superb postal service, the chances are that anything can quickly be sent to you from home, if you can't replace it locally. Surprisingly, given Shetland's location, next day delivery to/from most of the UK is commonplace.